


Legend of the Phoenix

by Uskius



Series: Uskius Talex Fanfic [4]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ebola - Freeform, Explicit Language, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 16:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4398980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uskius/pseuds/Uskius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When I checked out the other Talex stories out there, they were all about girly things like feelings and relationship problems. SO here's a Talex story in my special style, with lots of action. This is the sequel to Tree of Woe. In this story, a new prophecy comes into being, and Tobin and Alex and the rest of the USWNT rush to stop plans of global war and domination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legend of the Phoenix

It was three seventeen A.M. and Vince Russo felt the callings of prophecy, an uncomfortable pressure like massive diarrhea of the spirit. He was sitting at his writing desk, trying to fight it with strugglings, but it was tough. His hand lurched and took up a pen, but Vince stopped it before it could make contact with paper. He could feel the great ominousness of this prophecy and its evil consequences, and started to breathe heavy with not letting it out. The futureness and scary images filled up Vince’s mind, until he felt like he was floating and swirling around watching an Imax movie. He yelled, and his hair blew back with windiness as the blank paper begin to shine. His eyes turned white, and he screamed even louder as the prophecy finally became too great for him to hold back, and his hand began writing.

“The army marches for war of cleansing  
Every end is a new beginning  
The world will shudder amidst its groaning  
Pain will reign beyond all knowing  
The answer lies where the land is frozen  
Black dandruff falls from the heads of the chosen.”

Vince Russo sobbed, crying tears of fire as he looked out the window to the full red moon. He took a picture of the prophecy with his phone, and used the voice command, “Send to Jill.” His phone beeped, the picture sent with a great rushing sound.

~oOo~

There was a good celebration feel in the air, and U.S. Women’s National Team coach Jill Ellis popped the cork on a bottle of nineteen o seven Shipwrecked Heidsieck. “As a wise man once wrote, the first step is the one you believe in, the second one might be profound. Tonight’s win was that first step. There’s more of the schedule to nail down, but here we have taken that first step, and are prepared for all the rest.” The team cheered as Coach Jill raised the bottle of wine, and Christen Press got out the red solo cups from the cooler.

Never Gonna Give You Up started playing, and the cups of champagne were passed around. Alex Morgan did a small side to side kind of dance as she sipped from her cup, and could hear her good friend Tobin Heath singing along with the song. Hope Solo started doing Rick Astley’s dance from the video, but then the music changed, and Slash descended from the ceiling, playing a guitar solo! It turned Rick Astley’s music into something even more transcendant and life-changing. As he held his last pinch harmonic, gauzy clouds of light surrounded Slash, and he rose back up into the ceiling.

Suddenly, Never Gonna Give You Up stopped! The team turned to see what it was, and it was Coach Jill, looking at her phone with somberness. “Coach? What is it?” Alex asked. Coach Jill held up her phone, and motioned for the team to come near. They drew close with anticipations, and read the scary words.

“Black dandruff? That’s an awful poem,” Hope said.

“It’s not a poem,” Coach Jill explained.

“Then what is it?” Asked Tobin.

“A prophecy.”

“Prophecy?” Wondered Yael. “But, that would mean…”

“Indeed. It was why I initially didn’t take this job, to keep the rabbit trail covered.”

“I still think it doesn’t make much sense,” Hope said. “Black dandruff? I mean, if you have black dandruff that’s actually louse manure, and there are wars everywhere, not to mention all kinds of suffering all over the globe, for all kinds of reasons.”

“True,” Coach Jill agreed with noddings. “And while this could mean many things, it’s also specific: ‘the answer lies where the land is frozen’. So whatever is causing all the suffering and black dandruff, we’ll know where to start looking for the solution.”

“And there’s almost no way a lice epidemic is going to go global,” Rachel van Hollebeke added.

“We’ll discuss this in the morning, ladies. Right now let’s get washed up and head back to the hotel.” The team nodded and finished drinking, and then did their normal locker room stuff.

~oOo~

In the morning, the team gathered with seriousness in the conference room. “Are we ready?” Asked Coach Jill.

The team nodded, and Christie Rampone raised her hand. Coach Jill nodded, and Christie stood to hold up her tablet. “After some thought last night, I realized what the ‘war of cleansing’ line meant: ethnic cleansing. There’s racism wherever you look, but few places where asserting a certain race is possible.” Christie tapped her tablet, and a familiar slice of territory in the Middle East popped up, crossing the border between Iraq and Syria. “Here, there is no law, and if you’re going to start a war of cleansing, this would be the place. If you cooperated with them you would be able to survive, and if you aided them, then you might be able to store weapons banned by the Geneva Convention in the area. So while what’s going on there is monitored and isn’t anything new, what I think we need to watch for are extraneous forces entering the area, as those could be concealing something more dangerous.”

“Well put,” Coach Jill agreed. “I had similar thoughts, but settled on Crimea as a likely location. And, as you said, what’s going on there is monitored and isn’t anything new. However where it would differ is that the military forces in the area are far superior, and we actually get the word slave from the Slavic people. I’ll definitely keep I.S.I.L in mind, but I have a feeling Crimea is where we need to focus.”

“I know Coach Tom was close with Pele and the Vatican,” Meghan Klingenberg began, “But I don’t know if we really have any military ties. How will we be able to do anything?”

Coach Jill sighed with steeplings of her fingers, and leaned back in her chair. “The knowledge of P.S.I. is passed down from president to president. This would be our first call to Obama, and it may take a bit of time before we get a response from the White House. But, until then, there are other ways to monitor the situation. How many of you have met The Traveler and The Dubious Mechanic?” Tobin and Alex raised their hand, and Christie did also.

“The Dubious Mechanic is a ghost, though. It’ll be tough to get in contact with him.”

“True. However, I’m confident that by the time his technology might be needed, we’ll be in contact with the White House and have adequate means to aid the military. Before that is where The Traveler comes in. He can get us access to a number of covert facilities, and is owed a large number of favors that he may be able to call in.” After hearing covert facilities Tobin remembered something, and a chill went down her spine like syrup dripping down the side of the jar. Coach Jill noticed this, and the rest of the team saw her small look to Tobin, and then everyone was looking at Tobin with expectations.

“Tobin?” Christen Press asked, leaning her elbows on the table.

“It’s nothing…”

“C’mon, tell us,” Alex said.

“It’s…” Tobin took a deep breath and continued, “...I know where to look when we need to find the answer. But please, we have to try everything we can before then.”

“Where is it?” Meghan asked with a friendly arching of her eyebrow.

“Greenland.” In the time of an instant the room became silent, and everyone looked at the table with great interests.

“Thank you for sharing that,” Said Coach Jill. “But do not worry. There is much work to be done before then.” Taking out her phone, Coach Jill placed it on the table and said, “Call Rick.”

The phone rang four times, and then an manly voice said, “Hello?”

“Hi Rick, this is Jill, with the team.”

“Oh Jill, lovely to hear from you again. How’s the team doing?”

“They’re doing well. Say hello, ladies.” The team said hi with happy cheesiness, and Coach Jill continued. “Rick, have you heard anything about Russo lately?”

“Russo? I’m afraid not. Kim’s search didn’t turn up anything back when he raided the Vatican’s vault, and if any rumor of his whereabouts comes up he’s always long gone before you get there.”

“Last night he sent me a picture,” Coach Jill said, with businesslike tappings of her phone screen. “It should be coming your way in just a second.” There were tense silences for a moment before Rick spoke.

“Okay, I’ve got it. This… this is not good. And I’d recognize this handwriting anywhere, so there’s no way it could be faked. And it’s highly unusual for one of his divinations,” Rick Steves said.

“In what way?” Asked Crystal Dunn.

“The length,” Answered Rick. “Your typical prophecy from Vince Russo is usually just a couple lines.”

“And then there’s the line, ‘the answer lies where the land is frozen’,” Continued Coach Jill. “With Russo you always get the scene, but to my knowledge this is the first time he’s even hinted at a solution or method of possible prevention.”

“Indeed,” Concurred Rick. “Now, to me the first thing that comes to mind here are covert operations, and propaganda campaigns. There are a handful of places a ‘war of cleansing’ could take place, but nowhere that’s at or past the tipping point.”

“Coach Jill and Christie mentioned I.S.I.L. and Crimea. Do you think anything could be happening there?” Sydney Leroux asked.

“Those are two very likely places, but I think we need to be focused much closer. As in, our very own southern border states. Down there where towns and cities are so spread out there’s some ‘wiggle room’, I’ll say, and plenty of people would be willing to look the other way as long as nothing large scale happened; again, it’s small steps to set up the push to war right now that I would be looking for.”

Coach Jill sighed with thoughts of deepness, becoming silent for a few moments. “Rick, do you have any facilities open in Turkey that are available?”

“Right now the only one is a warehouse in Sivas.”

“That’ll be perfect. I’d like to take about half the team there, and get the others to Madrid in New Mexico.”

“What about Greenland?”

“Greenland can wait,” Coach Jill answered Rick. “The world won’t be ending on my watch.”

~oOo~

Tobin looked out of the cab as the unfamiliar city went by, and wondered of Vince Russo’s prophecy. Over the last year she and the team had been very actiony in saving the world, and there had always been help, and she and Alex always came through; but she had not been in a war before. She also thought of Greenland, where a tool of many destructions was hidden underneath the ice and snowiness.

“You doin’ okay, Tobs?”

“Just thinking,” Tobin answered. Alex gave her a friendly rub on the shoulder, and looked at Tobin as her friend gazed with soulfulness out of the window. She knew there were many things for worryings, but also knew her friend Tobin was very brave. There were more minutes of stormy thinkings in the cab, until the brakes gave a squeak like a mouse doing the Schmoney dance after finding cheese and they were finally arrived.

The girls got out of the minivan cab, and found they were in front of an impressively bland warehouse. They walked up to the door and saw it was already open, and stepped in. “That’s Alex and Tobin!” Coach Jill said, waving them over. The team had a quick group hug, then Coach Jill nodded with leaderness. “Let’s head to the bunker.” The team wove around many racks with strategically placed empty boxes, and eventually came to a small office type of building, and flipping the light switch up and down three times fast made a work table slide away from the wall, revealing stairs down.

Going down, Alex could see the place decorated like a boring but comfy office. This was when the times of danger had realness for her, as she could now see this would be her home until she and the team saved the world. She looked over and could see that Tobin did not look worried, but her face having a look of concentrated thinkings.

They only went down the long main hall before they came to the meeting room, which had a large future-looking table in the middle and silver chairs that looked as if drawn by a five year-old and then made with a good craftmanship. As everyone got seated Tobin looked over to Alex and could tell she was having determined thinkings, and relaxed some. “Are we all ready?” Asked Coach Jill. The team nodded, and she took a small box device from the middle of the table and put her phone into it; it made a hologram of the screen, and after a second Coach Jill got to a map of their area. “As you can see, by air it will only take a moment to get to Crimea or the state, so it’s important to be ready at all times.”

“What about the air zones?” Christie asked.

“Both are closely watched- in Crimea we should be fine unless we’re in a military jet, and in I.S.I.L. I’m not so certain, as we still don’t know what anti-air capabilities they have, but it’s assumed to be hostile air space.”

“So, have any bits of propaganda been put out around here?” Yael asked.

“So far there haven’t been any. The only odd bit of news I’ve come across is North Korea sending aid to help with the ebola outbreak in Africa.”

“And how is that going, by the way?” Asked Alex.

“Supposedly very well. They’ve put a bunch- in the thousands, from what I’ve heard- of people out there not just to treat the disease, but to provide food and other things as well.”

“But didn’t they just close their borders the other day?” Asked Meghan Klingenberg.

“They never said anything about sending people out,” Morgan Brian said with explaining. “Who knows; maybe this is some sick form of execution, where they get sent to somewhere they’ll catch ebola.” Like of a lightbulb, there were agreement murmurings as Morgan said this.

“If that’s the case, we’d need to alert the U.N. to it, but we’ll see where it goes first. Now, moving on to our plan of action for Crimea…” Said Coach Jill, changing the hologram to a map of Crimea…

~oOo~

It was early the second day at the bunker, and Alex was up early in the gym, dribbling around with a soccer ball. It was just her and she was thinking of being a hero, of how the world could need to be saved, and heroes helping their friends, and how all the movies and books had it amazingly wrong. She continued these bitter thinkings, working in footwork kinds of drills with subconsciousnesses. It was only when the echoing of the gym door opening was heard by her that she stopped to look. It was Tobin, who had a soccer ball of her own with her.

“You couldn’t sleep either?”

“Not really,” Alex answered. Tobin dropped her ball down, and after a moment of hesitations Alex kicked hers over. Tobin nodded and began passing the ball back and forth with Alex, this passing and dribbling being a silent conversation. It was relaxing for Tobin, and minutes later when she began to have fun someone else came into the gym.

“Are you guys gonna come get breakfast?” Asked Yael, leaning into the door.

“It’s already time?” Alex asked, kicking up her ball and holding it.

“Well, not everyone’s there, but some of us are.”

Alex looked over at Tobin, who nodded. “Alright, I guess so.” So the three went on away to the breakfast room, which was not cafeteria size but still big, and had a TV for watchings on the wall. It was no special kind of breakfast, just frozen waffles and some bagels designed by Emeril Lagasse.

“Hey Alex, hi Tobin,” Morgan said as they sat down at the table.

“Hey,” Said Tobin. She smiled and then looked up to the TV, which was on Fox News. Taking a bite of her tasty bagel, she watched as the anchor person explained something about polls and how it was basically guaranteed Hilary Clinton would be president if New Hampshire elected this person they were about to interview.

“So, about the prophecy,” Yael began with small hints of nervousness, “What do you guys think the ‘new beginning’ it mentioned could be?”

“I think it could like be the start of an age of equality,” Morgan said. “Whether the ‘war of cleansing’ works or not, people would start to realize that we’re all just human and not so different.”

“Well, that might depend on what group they’re targeting,” Yael said, before clearing her throat and taking a bite of her bagel.

“Maybe it could be talking about the public knowing of P.S.I.,” Tobin said quickly.

“That would be a relief,” Said Alex.

“But, remember what the pope said about that?” Reminded Tobin. “It’d kind of be like the X-Men, or the super hero registration act.”

“Except everyone has P.S.I.,” Morgan countered.

“Well, think of who already knows and what we do with them,” Yael said. “It definitely wouldn’t be a walk in the park, at least at first."

“And maybe not everyone would know they had it in the first place,” Said Tobin.

“Well, I’m just mainly worried about the whole timing of this thing,” Said Morgan. “If it took Vince Russo’s other prophecies years to come true, it could take that long or even longer for this one.”

Tobin shrugged and nodded, and took a bite of her waffle. The interview with the New Hampshire person was over now, and there was a new piece about North Korea and their ebola relief efforts. As she drank her orange juice, Christie and Meghan walked in.

“-And after that photo from the orphanage, we now have this,” The female anchor said. There was footage of many North Korean aid workers with the African people, some of them giving shots and some of them drawing water from wells as children danced around them with happinesses. There was a still shot of a woman tearfully hugging Kim Jong Un, and one of those people with a nice voice but doing a terrible accent translated, “They are angels! They are angels. The other nations gave help, yes, they gave us vaccines and took our sick ones away from us. But our angels, they walk with us and let our sick ones stay, and after our shots we are no longer sick. And, they say we are angels, too, and invite us to their country-”

“How’s everyone today?” Christie asked with a smile as she came back with her tray.

“Okay, I guess,” Said Tobin. She looked back at the TV for a second, and she heard the dude anchor say something about how the tests were all good, but there was one thing that went unnoticed at first-

“Good morning, ladies!” It was Coach Jill walking in, with a big smile. “I have some exciting news today: we’ll be able to do some training with one of the youngest masters of P.S.I. He’ll be here within the hour, and we’ll train with him in the afternoon.”

“He?” Morgan asked with hopefulness.

“Happily married, sorry. But yes, he.”

“Who is it?” Alex asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Coach Jill said, with a wink of not telling a secret. The rest of the breakfast passed with anticipations, and afterwards Coach Jill led them to the gym for some exercises and ball drills. Tobin was smiling now, now that the team was back to soccer, and the time skipped away like a schoolgirl who was about to be hit by a bus. After the beep track was done, someone walked into the gym.

“Hey! Starting without me?” The team turned to look- it was Drew Brees!

“Drew, so good to see you,” Coach Jill said as they hugged.

“Good to see you too…”

“Ladies, I would like you all to meet Drew Brees.” Drew went to introduce himself to the team, shaking their hands with manliness. After a short water break, Drew spoke again, having a tough leaderness in his voice.

“What we’re going to work on right now is precision. Form a line straight back, and neutralize each ball.” Drew nodded and dropped back several meters, and he called up a football into his hand. Meghan was first in the line, as Drew threw his ball fast towards her. Meghan had good reflexes and hit the ball, and it popped open with sparkly amber-colored energy that splashed past her. “A little more into that one! Now let’s go, keep the line moving!” The team cycled around with good spinnings, but Drew seemed to be getting less happy. “You’ve got the physical part down, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Sense the power of each ball as I form and throw them; remember the goal here is to _neutralize_. Now come on!” Morgan was first this time, and a silvery windiness from her P.S.I. countered the football well. Drew nodded, and the line started moving again. It was only a few more times through when he started throwing two balls, which he kept up for several minutes, throwing them faster and faster until it was like a machine gun of footballs.

“Okay, okay, better.” Said Drew with inscrutable approvings. “Next will be time under tension- or inflation, I should say,” Began Drew, pacing down and up the line. “As it’s been said, we all have a limit, but not everyone has the drive to exceed it…” Tobin had rememberings of her training with her mentor Morgan Freeman for a moment, of how he had taught her to give a tough effort, before she felt Drew looking at her for a second. “-But you’ll have to be careful, and not inflate too fast, as that could lead to a leak. If you keep up this exercise, it will increase your volume. Not by much, but every little bit will have a large impact on your focus. Now let’s sit against the wall, come on!” Drew led them to the gym wall, which they braced themselves against as they began the P.S.I. exercise. Tobin could sense the good strength of her teammates, and began to feel a little bit less nervous about the prophecy. The exercise though was like a nightmare that kept getting worse, and it seemed like forever even though it wasn’t. Alex felt her P.S.I. tremble, having never held her full strengths like this before. It had an evil teamwork with her legs starting to tremble; Alex remembered her tough work to defeat Messi in the Nazca Desert, and how it was like that in a way.

It was several more minutes, longer than the football drill, before Drew called a stop. “Not bad; I sensed some of you take ‘breaths’, but the point of this exercise is to keep working at it. Do you have a beep track?” Drew asked Coach Jill. She nodded, and walked over to the boom box. Drew jogged back and called up a football into his hand, and Coach Jill pressed play…

~oOo~

It was lunch time, and the team had gathered in the mess hall. “That was Abby on the phone just now,” Coach Jill said.

“How have she and the rest of the team been doing?” Tobin asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“They’ve been training just like we have, and it sounded like they were in good spirits. Also, after the drills yesterday, I got a call from President Obama.” They team’s listenings perked up at this news, and Tobin turned a little bit so that she was facing Coach Jill. “We now have full security clearance and access to military craft.”

“ _Any_ military craft?” Morgan asked with glee.

“Any one, publicly known as well as top-secret and experimental.” There were great smilings and a cheer from the group, as they now felt they had a good way to save the world. Tobin glanced at the TV and saw the word black, and was about to turn back to Coach Jill when rememberings fell into place in her mind with the completedness of a puzzle. Christie noticed the stunned fearfulness on Tobin’s face, and then one by one they turned to the TV on the wall.

“-Numerous tests have been done, and the results are mystifying. It wasn’t lice droppings as first assumed, as the results have human DNA-”

“So you’re implying the Koreans carried out unsanctioned genetic testing and modification?” The male anchor asked.

“...It wouldn’t be a large leap of logic to come to that conclusion,” The scientist lady said. “It also would be a similar step in reasoning to assume that the patients simply had a reaction to the vaccine that colored their dandruff.”

“And the results of the tests will be made public?”

“We’re still sorting through everything, but once everything’s categorized my team will publish the full results.”

“And what about the refugees?” The anchor guy asked, leaning forwards on his elbow.

“My colleagues and I aren’t monitoring them at the moment, but you’re the great and mighty Fox News so why don’t you get a crew down here and-” The scientist lady’s rant was cut short by the footage of happy people who had been vaccinated dancing in the streets, the North Korean aid workers awkwardly dancing with them.

“I think we found our army,” Said Tobin.

Coach Jill sighed with mighty womanliness, a sharp thinking look on her face. “...Let’s get the whole team to Africa, and monitor the situation in person. I don’t want us split between Greenland and Africa and North Korea unless that’s the only option left. Now listen- life, much like soccer, is a team sport. But the rules, the rules aren’t written on paper. There is no book of law that states all bonds of the spirit or society are unbreakable, for the true law which is written on the hearts of all mankind only teaches light and hope, and this law resists all of man’s attempts to erase it! America, Russia, Iran, North Korea, it does not matter we are all on the same team. Death is not the only true justice in this world, ladies- it is only a cheap imitation of sleep, one that does not allow for dreams. We will not bring that army death, for the only true justice in this world is freedom- the freedom of living only by the unwritten laws tyrants try to erase! This law does not state that there is a winning side, only that we all can win, and are on the same team! We! Will bring! Freedom!” The team cheered with a good fighting spirit at Coach Jill’s words, and began to prepare for the flying.

~oOo~

“You’d think they would have more movies than Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure to play during the flight,” Alex said as she looked over at Tobin.

“It is a pretty station movie,” Tobin said.

“Oh shut up,” Said Alex with a friendly punch to Tobin’s shoulder. The opening credits played again, and Morgan Brian spoke up from her seat across the aisle.

“Wasn’t it only supposed to have been like five more hours after we refueled over in Niger?”

“Yeah, and it’s been about seven,” Alex answered Morgan, looking at her watch.

“I wonder what’s up,” Tobin wondered with questionings. Tobin went back to watching the movie, but it was the time of only a few minutes before the captain walked out of the cockpit with the stewardesses.

“Greetings, passengers!” He said, playing a power chord on his Flying V guitar, shaking out his long hair behind him. Nodding to a stewardess with a digital drum pad kit, the captain began playing in power ballad style, and sang,

“We’ve come a long way together,  
And we’re so close,  
But there’s something you should know

They’ve got the fires burning  
But don’t give up hope  
You won’t be going there alone

I will fly with you  
Into the danger zone  
There’s no army  
That could ever take us down  
I will fly with you  
Into the danger zone  
Don’t leave the plane  
When we touch the ground! Come on!” The captain got some of the passengers on the flight to sing the chorus along with him, and as he began to play a guitar solo he went crowd surfing. Then there was an explosion against the plane!

Christie looked out of her window, and then spoke to the team with ominousness, “We’re late!”

“What do you mean, we’re late?” Meghan asked from behind her.

“The war has already started!” There was another explosion close by the airplane, and Tobin stood up.

“I’m headed down. Anyone else coming with me?” Alex and Christie nodded, getting up, too.

“Morgan, head up to first class and tell Coach. Everyone else, stick with the plane and keep it safe!” The three got up to the door, and Tobin kicked it open and jumped out. As she descended as of a butterfly, Tobin saw that there were fires like scattered flower petals on the ground, and a faint scent like the ripe fruit of war had burst open, homie.

She could see Alex and Christie now beside her. “Let’s go towards the camp!” She shouted over the windiness. There were fires in the camp of buildings and tents, and moving closer, they could see people running. Like a comet that collided with the earth and extincted the dinosaurs Alex and Tobin and Christie landed, except there were fires and craters around already and the dinosaurs were long gone. Immediately Christie was shot in the leg, but she flexed her calf and popped the bullet out with annoyances. “Over here!” They followed Tobin behind a car, and there was someone already there!

“Are you with them?” The American doctor lady fearfully asked, looking over carefully.

“What’s going on?” Asked Christie.

“Everything had been going so good… that vaccine had cured nearly everyone in the area, and the Koreans called an assembly to celebrate…”

“I can’t believe they’d do this after curing so many people,” Said Alex.

“It wasn’t the Koreans,” The doctor lady said, shaking her head. “It was the Guineans. Jong Un used the assembly to turn them against us, he said we were intentionally keeping them sick and we weren’t using the true vaccine like the Koreans were. I spent FIVE YEARS of my life working on that treatment, and in a minute I find out it’s all for nothing! How could they believe him…” The doctor lady began to cry, and Christie put an arm around her shoulders.

“Where are they now?” Tobin asked with concerns.

“They had this group here to cover their movement towards the air strip…” Tobin nodded, and shared a look with Christie and Alex.

“I’ll help her and the other survivors out,” Christie said.

“Let’s go stop that plane from leaving!” Alex said with revenges, taking out some pre-wrap and making a headband with it. She peeked through the tan car’s windows, and saw a couple people with guns, and called a soccer ball into her hand. She tossed it up, and it burst with electricities, striking the guns the people held and forcing them to be dropped. Tobin and her sprinted from behind the car and dashed towards the landing strip, weaving around buildings and burning cars with a good speed.

Just a few moments later, they got to the take-off place, and saw a plane already in the sky, leaving! But there was still another big cargo kind of plane on the ground, and people were filing into it. With a hard dash forwards, Tobin and Alex got near and readied soccer balls to attack, when people on the plane saw them and jumped out to stop them! “What…?! No…!”

“We won’t let you make us sick!” The young girl said in the language of Guinea, pointing an angry finger at Tobin and Alex. An older boy nodded and crossed his arms, and lifted his chin as he spoke.

“We are angels! We are no longer only human. We are blessed by Heaven!”

Tobin couldn’t understand the boy and girl, but knew they would fight. She sighed and raised her ball, and threw it- aimed up and towards the engines of the plane! But the boy formed a soccer ball, and it knocked Tobin’s off course with a burst of orange colored sparkles. “What…?!”

“We are angels!” The boy said, turning towards the other children and people coming to the plane. They started chanting it in the language of Guinea, and then Alex saw a man walking out from the front of the plane. The people cheered for him, and when they came out of the shadows, she could see it was Kim Jong Un!

“You _sick_ bastard,” Alex cursed.

“You do not understand sickness,” Kim retorted with an anime finger pointing pose. “I am free! My mind cannot be corrupted by your evil western ways! You, who only know gluttony and perversion, cannot comprehend the true human state. It is a mercy I have done these people-”

“But not to all the men and women who won’t be going back to their families,” Tobin interrupted.

“You do not understand mercy, either,” Kim replied, shaking his head. “Death is the only sure freedom this world has. It is the only way for one who is sick to be of use to the world!”

“You don’t understand death…” Tobin said in a low voice, preparing a strong soccer ball.

“No, I do,” Said Kim. “It is the only blessing for the sick, and a lightening of the burden they place on the truly living! It is a blessing!”

“Being taken from the ones you love isn’t a blessing!” Alex yelled.

“Pain brings wisdom!” Kim said, pointing up to the sky. “And I may speak of all blessings, for I am _GOD_!” The children and people all formed soccer balls and threw them down at the feet of Tobin and Alex, making a great explosion. When it cleared, all the Guineans were on the lane and the back was closing up, with Kim Jong Un laughing loudly. The plane took off, and Tobin threw her ball at it, but it fell short. She ran and jumped, flying and catching the tail as the plane left the ground.

Tobin looked back, her hair blowing around. “Alex! Get to Greenland!”

“Tobin!” But the plane was flying away, too fast for Alex to catch up. As it flew away Alex thought of how she had wanted to be a team with Tobin, but they kept getting pulled apart and battling on their own. After it was gone Alex stared after the plane still, until there was another one coming in! Moving out of the way, Alex could see it was the team’s plane! It landed and the ramp extended down from the side, and the team and other passengers came pouring out.

“Alex!” Morgan said, starting a big group hug.

“Where are Tobin and Christie?” Yael asked.

“Christie’s back in the medical camp helping out the survivors,” Answered Alex. “Tobin… she caught on to Kim Jong Un’s plane as it was leaving. She said to head to Greenland…”

Coach Jill frowned at hearing this, and folded her arms with thinkings. “I’ll take someone with me to Daneborg,” Drew Brees volunteered. The team looked around at each other, except Alex, who was looking down at her feet.

“Alex?” Said Coach Jill, laying a hand on her shoulder with comfortings. “We’ll need you there; you’re the only one who’s wielded the second True Ballon d’Or.”

“But… but, last time, I only needed to use it against Tobin. I don’t want to think of what it could do if it was used on a wider scale,” Alex said, looking up to Coach Jill.

“The phoenix does not worry about the ashes surrounding it,” Coach Jill said. “You know the words of the prophecy, Alex.”

“But this is my life! And I don’t want it to be some predetermined thing, where I have no control over it, and everything hinges on some impossible decision I could never make!” Said Alex, waves of tears barely being held back by her eyes.

“One play at a time,” Drew said. “When my team is down and the game rests on how I play, I don’t think about the end. Alex, the end won’t mean anything unless you focus on how you get there- you’ve got the ball at your feet, and you have this moment. What are you going to do?”

“...I just don’t want him to be right, I don’t want freedom to be proven as some kind of disease. I… want to stop Kim Jong Un.” Alex sighed, and looked into Coach Jill’s eyes. “I’ll do it with the True Ballon d’Or.”

Coach Jill nodded, and pulled out her cell phone from her pocket. “I’ll call Steve and see if he can get in touch with The Dubious Mechanic, and try to get us a jet from the base. In the meantime, get back to Christie and see what you can do to help.” The team gave their yeses, and went over towards the camp…

~oOo~

The plane crash-landed on the street of Monrovia, the wings leveling buildings like the tantrum of an angry toddler. It skidded to a stop like the marriage of an alcoholic and then the back door opened, and the Guineans began to march out of the plane. Tobin recovered from the landing, and flung down a soccer ball that exploded with golden light. The army stopped advancing for a moment, and Tobin flew down in front of them. She looked at the children and all the other people chosen by North Korea, and took a big breath. “If you want to take this city you’ll have to go through me.”

“HA!” Coming up through the Guineans was Kim Jong Un. “Now you want to play the martyr?”

“Martyr? What makes you think an army of newly inflated P.S.I. users could even slow me down?” Tobin said with an intense seriousness. The edges of her clothes were raggedy from flying on the outside of the plane, and they blew in the wind like a banner of war. Kim stared at her, and their P.S.I. sparked between them like lightning, testing the other’s strength.

“Hmph! Then I shall face you again, but this time you will be the one outnumbered! You came to stop a madman, but instead you found a _GOD_ , surrounded by an army of angels!”

“You wouldn’t be the first ‘god’ I’ve stopped,” Tobin said.

“AND YOU WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST ANT CRUSHED UNDER MY HEEL! If you wish to stand up to me, that is your fault- you will merely be an example of a failed resistance! And may your death the new world to which I shall descend!!!” Kim Jong Un floated forwards, arms out in a fighting pose. Tobin inflated her P.S.I. up as high as she could, until she shimmered gold and burning golden wings of P.S.I. leaked out from beneath her shoulder blades, and the gravel blew away beneath her. They met in mid-air with a blinding flash and a crack of thunder like an iceberg splintering; the tail of the cargo plane broke off and rolled forwards, stopping just short of the embassy.

The duel continued, like the pound of a giant drum. Tobin began to remember the style Kim Jong Un used, one of good footwork and blocks, with tough counterattacks. She felt she had a good advantage in the air with her baguazhong maneuverings, circling and twisting around as she carefully aimed her strikes. Kim was still fast though, using good small turns to protect his center. Tobin still had her full strength of P.S.I. and tried to use a fast punch to where Kim would be moving, but he stayed still instead and the punch was off it’s target- Kim snarled and hit Tobin with a jab to her ribs, and Tobin retaliated with a whippy low kick to his thigh. They began to move less and less then, spiraling down to the ground as they traded blocks and strikes. When they touched down Tobin began to use her speed to press Kim back. She tried the same tactic again, knowing Kim would have traction to change direction faster instead of staying still, and this time the hit connected. Kim gasped, and Tobin got in two more tough punches before a leaping kick that pushed Kim into the ground and back like a plow.

“How could you do this? How could you do this to _children_?!” Tobin asked, thundering forwards.

“It is the way of the world to break the innocent!” Kim answered, blocking with his arms in an X and sliding back. “Dreams cannot coexist with servitude!” Kim broke from his style and used a high roundhouse, which caught Tobin in the shoulder. She had rage then, using whippy kicks and punches without her baguazhong footwork. Kim did not counter any of them, instead only using hard blocks. Kim smirked, and settled into this mode of defense with smugness.

It then settled into a sort of dance then, one that only changed when Kim dodged to keep from being driven straight back. It continued for many minutes, with Tobin getting angrier and angrier- she didn’t have Alex with her, not even close by as in the other tough battles; there were the children and people of Guinea Kim had lied to, and then Kim himself; then there was her, Tobin Heath, far around the world from her home and fighting a fight no one else could fight for her. She had rage for those things, and also for not being able to win already. Her punches became faster, and her low kicks harder, but still Kim was able to use his good footwork and quickness to dodge and block. Tobin knew he had blocked many kicks, and then aimed to break his forearm with a high roundhouse much like he had used against her earlier. “Hrah!”

Kim blocked the shot with wincings, but leaned with it and caught Tobin’s leg, kicking her other from under her as he fell to the ground. He got up, twisting Tobin’s foot and applying an ankle lock- but before he could kneel over her other leg, she twisted around to swipe at him with a heel kick. Kim leaned back to dodge, but this gave Tobin her free foot to get up with, and she leapt as if to to a knee kick to his head. This was only a fake, as Tobin unfolded her leg with a very harsh stomp to his knee, causing Kim to cry out and stumble. Tobin then grabbed hold of his bad arm, trying to twist it behind him, but Kim recognized the hold Tobin was going for and did a barrel roll, catching her by surprise and sending Tobin face-first into the ground. He then reversed the hold into a severe chicken wing, kneeling on Tobin’s back. “Now do you see?! Heroism is a pointless exercise in vanity! There will be no more heroes!” Kim said, wrenching on his hold. “There will be order! There has to be!”

“Tyranny… is the greatest- form- of vanity!” Tobin answered, gritting her teeth and moving sideways from under Kim’s knee. She did her best to tuck in her chin, and she used her legs to flip over and do a bridge, slowly standing up as Kim tried to pull her back down. She made it up, then struggling to push her arm out away from her body, before quickly doing a side kick that sent Kim tottering back. They cautiously circled a couple times before Kim raced in to attack. Having a tough knowledge of Kim’s style, Tobin now could see that some of them jabs and steps were to try to trap her. She continued with her good footwork looking for true openings, aware they were no longer full of energy, but Kim kept being defensive and blocking her strikes.

It was with a good confidence Kim took the risk and followed through with his straight, hitting Tobin’s shoulder. The follow up burst was halted with a front kick, this hit giving Tobin some courage, but her second kick was blocked. It was a tense time then, the duel stretching out like rubber band. Each retreated to their defenses for a moment before launching braver and more daring attacks, with Kim Jong Un at one point twisting for a helicopter kick as he flipped backwards to dodge. As he landed Tobin pummeled him with a combo of punches, and then the race was on. Neither bothered to block now, only dodging the occasional shot to the face. “It was the- ugh- perfect plan!” Kim squeezed out. “No one cares about Africa; it was a free army and start to my global empire…” He said, sounding as if he was sitting on a rumbly washing machine.

“Where’s your holy empire now?!” Tobin asked, keeping her core tough. “Where is your army of angels?!”

“Angels?” Kim asked, taking a shallow hook to his mouth. “You forget that you stand against _god himself_!” Kim roared, and landed his toughest punch he could to Tobin’s solar plexus, stunning her for just a second, and stomp-kicking her shin away, bringing her down to one knee. “Sing for me!” Kim commanded in the language of Guinea, and his army responded. Tobin had long since blocked out all other noise, and the sudden singing startled her. Kim looked down on her in dark triumph, and Tobin’s mind took her back to a time when she was exhausted training with her mentor Morgan Freeman…

_“I… can’t…” Tobin said, down on her stomach with sore tiredness._

_“Yes you can,” Morgan Freeman said._

_“I can’t…!”_

_“Yes you can! Look at me Tobin- a fighter, they are only in it for the money, for themselves. They live for only a single moment of victory. A warrior cannot afford to dwell on fame or focus on a single battle, because war is a way of life, Tobin! I know deep in your heart, Tobin, that you believe- that one moment of glory is not your purpose, that there are greater things to fight and live for! Don’t be afraid to live, Tobin! You were made to overcome! Now are you a fighter, or a warrior?”_

_“...A warrior…”_

_“I did not hear you!”_

_“I am a warrior.”_

_“I’m getting old and deaf, Tobin- what did you say?!”_

_“I am a warrior!”_ Tobin looked up into Kim’s eyes with her renewed focus, and yelled as she summoned all the P.S.I. she had and blew it up as high as she could. Kim had his own soccer ball ready, one that glowed with and eldritch black light. Tobin readied her fist, and the two thrust forwards their attacks like the sun and the moon colliding in an epic apocalyptic joust. “Triple Nail Punch!”

“Deflation Ball!” There was an immense burst of light, almost as if a star was birthed and ascended to the sky like an early dream of mankind; the windows of the nearby buildings shattered, and there was a metallic groaning and rending sound. As the thunderous echo faded and the dust began to drift down like the first snow in Winter, Kim Jong Un was staring at the ground. “You… should not have been able touch a divinity like me…”

“Bad habit of mine, I guess…”

“My legend will never die…” Kim Jong Un toppled forwards, first to his knees and then on his stomach. Tobin looked ahead at the embassy, and began walking towards it…

~oOo~

“How could they have known?!” Alex asked.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!” Drew said. “Are you ready to eject?”

“No one should ever be ready to get shot out of a plane moving at Mach two-” Drew pressed the button, launching Alex and himself from the fighter jet. There were several swear words Alex shouted that got lost in the wind, but after a few moments when the parachute opened she calmed down. “Drew, is the house they’re marching towards the one?” Alex asked over the helmet’s headset.

“It’s the only house around! Abby, Kelley, is your team closing in?”

“We’re about two minutes away!” Kelley O’Hara answered.

“I got word from Rick that The Dubious Mechanic is already at the safehouse!” Coach Jill called over the headset.

“Time to rock and roll ladies!” Said Drew. “Let’s go kick some balls!” The ground rushed up ever faster at Alex, and she tucked in her chin and was able to land very well. Drew landed close by, and they unbuckled their harnesses and dashed up to the house. Alex paused to look behind her, shading her eyes against the early morning light.

“There are so many of them…”

“What did I tell you, Alex? One play at a time. This isn’t over yet!” Alex sighed and turned to knock, and the door opened very soon afterwards.

“...Not here selling Samoans?” The Dubious Mechanic joked.

“Wrong time for that, dude. Way wrong time.”

“Ahem. Sorry miss Morgan.”

“Can you take me to the True Ballon d’Or?”

“We’re already there.”

“What?”

“Here-” The Dubious Mechanic rotated the mailbox three times clockwise, and the concrete front patio lifted up with noises of hydraulics, revealing the second True Ballon d’Or on a pedestal.

“...Seriously?”

“Would you have looked there?”

“Point taken.” The Dubious Mechanic picked up the True Ballon d’Or and tossed it to Alex, who caught it in both hands. She looked up at the advancing army, then back down. “Drew… I’m gonna need some time with this to unlock it.”

“Alright; and the rest of the team should be here any minute.” The faces of the chosen of Guinea were now visible in the distance, and with a hurtful shock Alex saw that there were children among them. “...They can’t be any older than thirteen or fourteen…” Drew said quietly.

The hairs on the back of Alex’s neck stood up, and The Dubious Mechanic walked out in front of her. He seemed slightly taller, and Alex noticed his veins standing out. He looked back at her, any trace of the goofy guy who once told her to choose love gone- to Alex it seemed as if a nightmare was straining to claw out of him. “...Violence is violence. Now unlock it as fast as you can, I can’t do this for long!” Alex nodded and took a few steps back, focusing her P.S.I. on the second True Ballon d’Or. She felt recognized, like her P.S.I. fit. She forced her way into it, trying to pry it open, but met great resistances. _Open, dammit! Come on…_ Looking up, she saw The Dubious Mechanic doing his work, firing electric red laser beams from his eyes, ones that seemed familiar. _Wait- it awakens with fire, I remember now! I don’t know if I can heat it up in time-_ Alex took a deep breath and channeled her raw P.S.I. into the True Ballon d’Or, the electricness making her hands clench and tremble around the orb. The trembling pains got stronger, and the True Ballon d’Or started to heat up. Alex cried out, the heat and shockings becoming very great. She looked at it’s surface- though it was starting to glow, there was no light streaming out from the locks.

“Guys!” It was Kelley O’Hara, along with the rest of the team that had been in Madrid, Arizona!

“Kelley! Hurry, it needs fire!” Kelley nodded and stepped over, cupping her hands beneath the True Ballon d’Or, her P.S.I. leaping out as sky-blue flames.

“AAH!” With a last great laser beam, The Dubious Mechanic collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. Alex looked up, the sight of the fallen chosen of Guinea being very hard to look at. And still, there were many more marching towards them.

“So it comes to this,” Said Rick Steves, unbuckling his parachute as he walked around the corner of the house.

“Oh Rick, thank goodness you’re here,” Kelley said, looking over her shoulder.

“So it comes down to the unworthy trying avert their downfall with the apocalypse,” Dennis Rodman finished. “How childish.”

“Says the man with rainbow-colored hair,” Megan Rapinoe retorted.

“You don’t even know what you’re doing, do you? The True Ballon d’Or isn’t meant for short-sighted mortals, it’s an instrument of the divine.”

“I kinda guessed tha- ...wait, Rick?!” Kelley said.

“As much as it pains me to say this, there’s no American who has the vision necessary to wield. When you travel like I do, you learn your home country isn’t the only possible winning side. Hand over the True Ballon d’Or, and this can end peacefully.”

“It’s too late for this to end peacefully!” Megan shouted at Rick.

“There is peace in servitude,” Dennis Rodman said, taking up a fighting stance.

Alex’s limbs were trembling again, this time not with the strain of unlocking the second True Ballon d’Or, but now with the fear of the power in her hands. It burned through her, its depths pulling her in. Rick and Dennis noticed the ominous red lights coming from it, and then Alex gave in to the second True Ballon d’Or’s power and reality broke apart.

The area around Alex began to warp and unravel, thin spiral strands blending into a rainbow of chaos. Alex had a fearfulness and let go of her mind, letting her heart take over, as with the last time she had used it. The strands sparkled and wove themselves into new patterns, ones her heart recognized but her mind did not, the pearlescent pandemonium drifting aimlessly about. The heat from the True Ballon d’Or radiated intensely until it could only be felt as pure light; and then Alex gave her heart up to this light, the illumination of her being bouncing and echoing and weaving together with the free-floating rainbow strands, altering some patterns and reaffirming others. All at once the only pattern left was the one of Alex herself, and her heart began to tell her mind what all the different patterns and textures translated to, and the colors became less fluid and bled away, lifting into the sky. The pool of hues coalesced into an orb, shining and shrinking until they had condensed into a golden ball, which then promptly shot off at an untraceable speed, playa.

Alex looked down- there were her hands, and she was still wearing the flight suit; there were her teammates and Rick and Dennis, and the chosen of Guinea merely appeared to be asleep. Reality had never seemed so simple and real and comforting, and with tears of all emotions Alex began to cry, everyone coming together for a group hug. It was a great many minutes before they separated, and they looked all around. It seemed everything was exactly as it had been left, but there was no mistaking it- the worlds had shifted.

Then, as suddenly as Alex had begun to cry, a chuckle rippled through the group. Kelley laughed, and hopped away, attempting to use her P.S.I. to fly. Nothing happened. The team laughed, but Kelley got up with a frown, and tried to call up a soccer ball into her hand. Nothing happened. The other members of the team were now catching on with shockedness splashing over their faces. “What…? But…” They each tried to make use of their P.S.I., all to the same effect of nothing happening. Alex herself closed her eyes and tried to focus her pneuma per square inch, but instead of her P.S.I., rainbowy threads came up in her mind’s eye.

“Oh no!” Megan said, looking at her teammates. “What about Tobin? We don’t know what she was in the middle of when the change happened!”

“She could have been using P.S.I., and…” Worried Sydney.

“And we can’t try calling her, because there’s no cell reception out here,” Lauren Holiday added.

“I… I think I have an idea,” Alex said. She closed her eyes and reached for the shimmering rainbowy threads, pulling and rearranging them to form a path, a beam of white light carpeting the bottom. Alex called out with her heart, and soon after felt a familiar pattern approaching. Before she could open her eyes, Alex was tackled off her feet by a flying hug- and when she opened them, Tobin was there. Alex started crying again, but this time only happy tears.

 

THE END


End file.
